Archive for February, 2018

How can I access Character Map in order to type a special character that is not shown on my keyboard? Character Map is the built-in utility for helping you insert all possible text symbols or special characters into your document. In this tutorial we’ll show you different ways to open Character Map in Windows 10.

Method 1: Open Character Map in Windows 10 via Run Command

Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open Run command box, type charmap and press Enter.

The Character Map utility will start. When you first using Character Map, you may be amazed at what characters you could insert into a document.

Method 2: Open Character Map in Windows 10 via Start Menu

Click the Start button. When the Start Menu opens, scroll down to the Windows Accessories folder. Expand it and you’ll see the Character Map shortcut.

If you’re running Windows 7, you can access Character Map via Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map.

Method 3: Open Character Map in Windows 10 via Cortana Search

Simply type character into the Cortana Search box at the taskbar, then click the Character Map app appeared in the result list.

Method 4: Create a Character Map Shortcut on Your Desktop

Open your Windows Explorer and browse to the C:\Windows\System32\ folder. Right-click on the charmap.exe file and then select “Send to” -> “Desktop (create shortcut)” from the context menu.

Once the shortcut is created on your desktop, you can rename it to “Character Map“. When you need to type special symbols, just double-click the Character Map shortcut to launch it quickly.

How to unlink or delete Microsoft account from Windows 10? If you want to share less data with Microsoft, deleting your Microsoft account can be a great way to ensure that none of your data is uploaded to Microsoft’s servers without your consent. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to completely delete Microsoft account on Windows 10.

Part 1: Delete Microsoft Account Locally

Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app, click Accounts.

Once you’ve selected the Your info tab, click the option labeled “Sign in with a local account instead” on the right side.

Enter your Microsoft account password and it will let you create a new local account. When you’re done, Windows 10 will log you out and you need to log back in with the local account.

Open the Settings app again and navigate to Accounts -> Email & app accounts. Your deleted Microsoft account is still listed under “Accounts used by other apps”. Click on it and then select the Remove option.

Part 2: Permanently Close Your Online Microsoft Account

Visit the Close your account page at Microsoft website. Sign in with the Microsoft account you want to close permanently.

You’ll be taken to the following page, which will verify your identity with a security code. In this case, we used a secondary email address to receive security code.

After verifying your identity, Microsoft will inform you about all the things you must first do before closing your account. Click Next.

Tick all check boxes acknowledging that you understand the consequences of canceling the account and select a reason for leaving, then click the Mark account for closure button.

It will take 60 days to permanently close the account. If you change your mind later, you can reopen your Microsoft account within 60 days.

Comments Off on How to Completely Delete Microsoft Account on Windows 10 »

Aero Peek is a usability feature available since Windows 7, which allows you to temporarily view the desktop without having to minimize all the open windows. Just move the mouse at the far right end of the taskbar, it makes all the open windows go transparent and you can see the desktop. Move the mouse away to see your open windows again.

If you don’t like Aero Peek, you can disable it easily. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to enable or disable Aero Peek in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Move your cursor over the “Show desktop” button, which can be found as a small rectangle present at the right corner of the taskbar. Right-click the “Show desktop” button, and then select “Peek at desktop” from the popup menu.

When Aero Peek is turned on, there should be a check mark next to the “Peek at desktop” option. Clicking that option again will then disable Aero Peek.

Method 2: Enable or Disable Aero Peek via Right-clicking Taskbar

Right click an empty space on the taskbar, and then select Taskbar settings from the popup menu.

On the Taskbar settings window, just toggle the “Use Peek to preview the desktop when you move your mouse to the Show desktop button at the end of the taskbar” option on or off to enable or disable Aero Peek.

If you’re running Windows 7, right-click on the taskbar and select Properties. You’ll get a similar option “Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop” that allows you to enable or disable Aero Peek.

Method 3: Enable or Disable Aero Peek via System Properties

Press the Windows + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog, then type sysdm.cpl and hit Enter.

On the System Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab. Click the Settings button under the Performance section.

Select the Visual Effects tab, look for the option entitled “Enable Aero Peek” or “Enable Peek“, which allows you to turn the Aero Peek feature on or off.

Click Apply and then OK.

Method 4: Enable or Disable Aero Peek via Registry Hack

Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Double-click a DWORD value called DisablePreviewDesktop on the right pane, set its value to 0 if you want to enable Aero Peek, or change its value to 1 when you don’t use Aero Peek.

How to remove the “Change a password” option from the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen in Windows 10? When pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keyboard combination, it will invoke the Windows Security Screen and users can change the login password there. Here’s how you can disable the ability of changing password from the Ctrl+Alt+Delete screen in Windows 10 / 8 / 7, through group policy or registry tweak.

When you tap or draw something on a touch screen, a round spot appears under your fingertip if you’ve enabled Touch Feedback in Windows 10. This provides you with visual feedback that your tap was recognized. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 ways to enable or disable Touch Feedback in Windows 10.

Method 1: Enable or Disable Touch Feedback via Settings

Use Windows + I keys on the keyboard to open the Settings, and then click Ease of Access.

Select the “Other options” in the left menu. There you should see a setting for “Show visual feedback when I touch the screen” on the right.

Toggle it off if you want to get rid of the annoying grey touch circle on your screen. Or toggle it on to enable Touch Feedback and optionally turn on “Use darker, larger visual feedback (ideal for presentations)“.

In the Pen and Touch window, click the Touch tab at the top. Check the option “Show visual feedback when touching the screen” to turn on Touch Feedback. If you want darker and larger visual feedback, check the “Optimize visual feedback for projection to an external monitor” box.

If you want to turn off Touch Feedback, uncheck the option “Show visual feedback when touching the screen“. Once you have set the desired options, click Apply and then OK.

There you should see two DWORD values “GestureVisualization” and “ContactVisualization” on the right. If you want to disable Touch Feedback, just set both of them to zero. If you want to enable Touch Feedback, set GestureVisualization to 31 in decimal, and set ContactVisualization to 1.

If you to turn on “Darker, Larger Visual Feedback”, keep GestureVisualization as a decimal value 31 and set ContactVisualization to 2.

Close Registry Editor and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

Comments Off on 3 Ways to Enable or Disable Touch Feedback in Windows 10 »

When a Windows 10 session is locked, it requires the username and password to unlock it. Previous versions of Windows only required the password. How can I change it to only ask me for password? Luckily there is easy fix that can get rid of the need to click or enter username, so you can unlock a locked Windows 10 session by entering password only.

Fix: Windows 10 Requires Username and Password When Session is Locked

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run prompt. Type secpol.msc and press Enter.

In the left pane of Local Security Policy Editor, expand Local Policies and click Security Options.

Next, double-click the Interactive Logon: Display User Information when the session is locked policy in the right pane.

When you open a folder containing images or video files, Windows will automatically create the thumbnail images for each file and store them in the cache, so that it can show thumbnails without any delay the next time you open the same folder.

Since Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the thumbnail cache keeps deleting itself after a restart or a shutdown, and the system has to recreate the thumbnails again for the same folder. Luckily, there is registry trick that can stop Windows 10 from automatically deleting the thumbnail cache at boot.

How to Fix: Windows 10 Thumbnail Cache Keeps Deleting Itself at Boot

Press the Windows key + R shortcut to open the Run command box. Type regedit and hit Enter.

Navigate to the following registry location, and then double-click the Autorun DWORD value in the right pane.

Windows 10 thumbnails messed up? By default, Windows automatically creates thumbnails for every documents, videos and images on your PC, which gives you a preview of a folder/file before you open it. When Windows 10 doesn’t properly display thumbnails or the thumbnails are corrupted, here’s how to clear and rebuild the thumbnail cache in Windows 10.

Where does Windows 10 store the thumbnail cache?

The thumbnail cache is hidden and you can find it in the following location:C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Here you will see a lot of files like thumbcache_2560.db. If you were to be able to delete them, Windows 10 will automatically re-create new thumbnails when required.

Method 1: Clear the thumbnail cache using Disk Cleanup

Open File Explorer. Right-click on your system partition (C:\) and select Properties from the context menu.

Under the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button.

Locate and check the Thumbnails option, and then click OK to delete / clear the thumbnail cache.

Before clearing the thumbnail cache, you need to close File Explorer. Open Task Manager and switch to the Details tab, right-click on explorer.exe and select End task.

Get back to the running Command Prompt. Type the following command and press Enter to delete all the thumbnail cache files.del %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db
start explorer.exe

Now you should be able to browse files and folders on your computer with thumbnail images showing up correctly.

How can I remove High Contrast mode? Windows comes with several themes that provide high contrast and make it easier to read screens in bad lighting. This feature is really useful for users with visual impairment. Here are different ways to turn on / off High Contrast in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Turn On / Off High Contrast Using Keyboard Shortcut

This keyboard shortcut (left Shift + left Alt + PrtScn) can be used as a toggle to turn a high-contrast theme on and off. If the keyboard shortcut is not working on your Windows, follow these steps: